If history is a guide, NYPD issued virtually no careless driving citations to motorists who injured 7,371 pedestrians and cyclists from January through June of 2012. Per department protocol, crashes are not investigated unless the victim is killed or believed "likely to die." Graphic by Carly Clark

Over 7,000 vulnerable street users were injured in New York City traffic in the first six months of 2012, and 79 were killed, according to NYPD data reports compiled by Streetsblog.

Across the city from January through June, 67 pedestrians and 12 cyclists were fatally struck by motorists: 18 pedestrians and two cyclists in Manhattan; nine pedestrians and one cyclist in the Bronx; 22 pedestrians and five cyclists in Brooklyn; 15 pedestrians and three cyclists in Queens; and three pedestrians and one cyclist in Staten Island.

With 27 deaths, Brooklyn saw the most vulnerable user fatalities, followed by Manhattan with 20, Queens with 18, the Bronx with 10 and Staten Island with four.

Of 55 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities reported by Streetsblog and other outlets, 13 were hit-and-run crashes in which the driver was not immediately caught or identified. Of the remaining 42 crashes, five motorists were known to have been charged for causing a death. In four of those cases, the driver was also charged with driving while intoxicated. In the fifth case, the driver was accused of running over the victim intentionally. Historically, nearly half of motorists who kill a New York City pedestrian or cyclist do not receive so much as a citation for careless driving.

JFC!!!! That’s a lot of hurt people? I wonder how many were injured by bicycles?

Guest

What really stands out about the disparity between the nearly non-existent enforcement and the number of injuries is the fact that injuries only occur in a small portion of the cases when drivers fail to use due care.

http://www.facebook.com/chris.corr Chris Corr

142 traffic deaths through end of June is a worrying number. Last year there was only 237 with a few days remaining in the year (don’t know what the final count was).

Anonymous

@JarekAF:disqus

I wonder how many were injured by bicycles?

A) Most of them (of course).
B) You put it the wrong way: *bikers* hurt people, not bicycles. Conversely, fate forces motor vehicles into regrettable events; drivers are but spectators to their own actions.

Ralphat

Not sure what your point is but everyone, cyclists, peds and drivers need to be more careful and more civil when using the roads and paths all around NY. For example, I have been a cyclist all my life and I have very mixed feelings about bike paths and greenways versus riding roads. There are times when I wonder if I would not be better off risking it with the cars.

Case in point is the problem of runners and walkers using the bike path on the Hudson River Greenway in areas where there is a separate lane for pedestrians. This is simply dangerous and uncalled for. The same, of course, goes for cyclists in the running lanes.

Station44025

How does this compare to gun deaths? I’d love to see Bloomverg get as worked up about this as he does about guns, which to be fair, are made specifically to kill people.

Anonymous

@046625e01ed510fb0aa9c81b9ed3ff49:disqus My point was (a) a none-too-interesting bit of irony about cyclists being blamed for the dangers of the city’s streets out of all proportion to the reality of the threat they pose and (b) a comment on how agentless the average media story is when it involves a human causing damage with his or her multi-ton vehicle as a result of actions that very occasionally appear to have been truly beyond control but more often appear to have involved a mind-blowing amount of recklessness that’s then papered over by the term “accident.”

And, believe me, I’m all for road users of every stripe behaving better. I even have this idea that people should obey the law.

Ralphat

Got that. It was JarekAF’s point that made no sense. Clearly, more damage is done by automobiles than any other form of transportation. Every time a cyclist or pedestrian is hit by a car or truck there seems to be a presumption that they are at fault.

In spite of all the new bike lanes, cyclists are still targeted by drivers. I don’t know about other cyclists but I have an absolute dread of and avoid making left turns on city streets. The drivers in my neighboorhood of Sheepshead Bay are quite aggressive and arrogant. That previous misspelling of NEIGHBORHOOD was a bit of a Freudian slip, indicating the number of boors that inhabit my nabe.

Johnstown

The idea that cyclists and pedestrians should share a common space is completely erroneous. Since cyclists are required to follow the rules of motorists they should only use the roads. The Brooklyn Bridge walkway should be closed to cyclists. If they want to cross the bridge then let them use the same space as the motorists. If there is going to be any injury let it be the cyclist and not the pedestrian. Therefore, cyclists should not be allowed on the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge. Cyclists disobey the rules of the road a good 99.9% of the time. They need to be licensed and insured.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AAM3A2BCZWNLK67MWJSYIRUXUQ Clem

The Bloomberg administration’s policies, including the aggressive confiscation of traffic lanes for bicycle lanes that are sparsely used, and the self-entitlement of pedestrians to cross against red lights and slowly sashay across the street on the green light to impede turning vehicular traffic, have created an adversarial relationship between motorists and pedestrians/cyclists. Motor vehicles tend to respect red lights nowadays, due in part to aggressive enforcement, including red light cameras that issue violations without the need for a traffic or police officer. As a result, pedestrians and bicyclists have adopted an attitude of wanton disregard for all traffic laws, including the observance of “don’t walk” and red light signals that control both vehicular and pedestrian traffic at intersections. This combination of pedestrian/cyclist lawlessness and the loss of miles of what were previously vehicular traffic lanes has caused a dramatic increase in traffic congestion in Manhattan especially. Unless traffic officers are ordered to enforce the laws equally among motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, this chaos and mayhem will continue to escalate into a potentially violent confrontation on the streets of New York City. It’s time for Bloomberg to get his nose out of the affairs of consumers and into his job as chief executive officer of the City of New York and take the necessary steps to restore order to the city streets.

Ian Turner

Anybody tempted to respond to Clem should probably check out his Yahoo profile first.

Anonymous

Ian, good suggestion.

But to give a direct answer: that NYC motor traffic and parking capacity maxed out sometime in the 1950s, long before bike lanes, and after street cars were removed. The city systematically removed NYC pedestrian sidewalk width throughout the 20th Century in an attempt to move more cars. The status quo ante was gridlock, before bike facilities. Rolling the clock back won’t move any more car traffic.

Pedestrian islands and plazas and bike lanes are rationalizing public street space, space that belongs to all the public, and not just to motorists. The current emphasis on moving pedestrians and bicyclists safely, versus
the earlier focus on moving the last possible car, is barely having any
more negative impact than the excess number of cars that keep trying to
drive in the city for the past 60 years.

The simple fact is that only by reducing demand, reducing the total number of motor vehicles driving the NYC streets at the same time, can the remaining drivers move smoothly, with less stress and delay.

We are not going to build our way out of traffic congestion with new road and parking spaces. That is, unless we accept the Robert Moses 80/20 Final Solution For Manhattan.
The Moses 80/20 Final Solution was to make 20 percent of Manhattan land area expressway lanes and the remaining 80 percent into parking lots. The fact that there would be no there there, was irrelevant to Moses – what was important is that there would be no road delays and no parking problems. Really.

Johnstown

Here is my thought about the conflict between bikes and walkers. Bikes are confined to the streets, right? Then they should use the same lanes as cars and trucks everywhere, including the bridges. Finally, here is my kicker: If anyone is to get injured it should be the bike rider and not the pedestrian. Therefore, bikes should always be confined to the streets.

Johnstown

I would like to form a pedestrian critical mass. We can begin our pedestrian campaign/battle on the Brooklyn Bridge. To enormous groups form on either end of the walkway on an agreed upon Sat. at noon. We walk toward the center where we meet and rally, disallowing and bikes to pass.

Rhino On A Rope

maybe the city needs to hand out more jaywalking tickets. People need to pay attention before crossing the street… I see too many people on their phone or listening to music and totally clueless. I also see plenty of bicyclists that do not follow the rules of the road as well. If NYPD isn’t citing the drivers, perhaps it’s for a REASON!

Joe R.

@c3d7fc81383ccd4be9eafe6ce4676697:disqus Giving pedestrians or cyclists tickets is a totally boneheaded idea. It’s incumbent upon car drivers to drive in such a manner that they don’t hit vulnerable users. “Rules of the road” exist solely to allow autos to speed along without colliding with each other. They have no application to either pedestrians or cyclists, both of who can easily see and avoid obstacles without rules or traffic controls.